A rare question for jurors in Michigan: Does a son's crimes deserve his mother's conviction?

In closing arguments at Jennifer Crumbley's trial on Friday, attorneys for the prosecution and defense differed sharply on whether jurors should take the extraordinary step of holding a mother responsible for her child's heinous crimes .

But both sides agreed on one point: this was a unique process.

Prosecutors are seeking to hold Ms. Crumbley partially responsible for the shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan on Nov. 30, 2021. Her son, Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time, killed four classmates at the school and injured seven others in the deadliest shooting on record. a school in the state.

“It's a rare case,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald, who represents Ms. Crumbley charged with negligence, but acknowledged the high burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed a crime.

“It will take the unthinkable,” Ms McDonald added. “And she did the unthinkable, and four children died because of it.”

Since last week, jurors have heard shocking testimony from witnesses, combative debates between lawyers and hours of testimony from Mrs. Crumbley, 45. The charges against her and her husband, who each face four counts of involuntary manslaughter, are leading. on the edge of an effort by some prosecutors to hold parents accountable when they are accused of enabling deadly violence by their children.

The husband, James Crumbley, 47, will be tried separately in March.

Ms Crumbley's lawyer, Shannon Smith, said her client should not be punished for the bloodshed her son initiated, in part because Ms Crumbley could not have foreseen what would happen. Ms. Smith also argued, using examples from her own life, that parenting can be a messy and unpredictable job.

“This case is very dangerous for parents,” she told jurors on Friday. “It just is. And it's one of the first of its kind.”

Since Ms. Crumbley's trial began last week, prosecutors in Oakland County have called 21 witnesses, including law enforcement officers, friends of Ms. Crumbley and those who witnessed the shooting, to testify about the day of the crash and the events leading up to it.

Ms. Smith took part in cross-examination but called only one defense witness, Ms. Crumbley, who testified Thursday that she had always tried to protect her son but did not expect him to hurt other people.

“I wish he'd killed us instead,” said Mrs. Crumbley.

Throughout the trial, the defense tried to portray Ms Crumbley as a “hypervigilant mother” who was concerned about her teenager's whereabouts and attentive to the mundane details of his life, such as tricky braces, geometry figures and bowling practice.

“I ask that you find Jennifer Crumbley innocent,” Ms. Smith said Friday. “Not just for Jennifer Crumbley, but for every mother who is doing her best and who could easily be in her shoes.”

But prosecutors have suggested that Mrs. Crumbley paid more attention to her two horses and her extramarital affair than to her son's needs, ultimately missing glaring warning signs that he was about to commit unspeakable violence.

This week, lawyers also argued over who was responsible for Ethan Crumbley not being sent home from school before the shooting, despite a violent drawing he made. The drawing showed a gun and the phrase “blood everywhere,” prompting school officials to meet with his parents just hours before the attack.

“He drew a picture for her,” Mrs McDonald said on Friday. “Pretty egregious and unique circumstances.”

Also introduced into evidence at the trial were months of communications between Mrs Crumbley and her son, including text messages from months before the shooting in which Ethan had told his mother that their house was haunted, possibly by a demon.

Ms. Crumbley, prosecutors noted, was not always responsive.

But Ms Crumbley said in her testimony on Thursday that Ethan and his parents had joked for years about whether their house was haunted. “He was always sarcastic,” she said. “We are always being messed with.”

On Thursday, a detective walked jurors through the pages of Ethan's diary, which was found at the school after the shooting. He had written about a plan to cause bloodshed, with drawings of weapons and pleas for help regarding his mental health. “My parents won't listen to me when it comes to help or a therapist,” he wrote.

But Mrs Crumbley said she had never seen the diary entries or heard her son ask for a therapist.

Prosecutors also spent time discussing Ethan's access to the Sig Sauer pistol he used in the shooting. The evidence shows that Ethan's father had purchased the gun as a Christmas present for the teen.

While Mrs. Crumbley accompanied Ethan to a shooting range a few days before the disaster, she testified Thursday that her husband, who was more familiar with firearms, had been responsible for putting the gun away. But prosecutors accused her Friday of trying to distance herself from the gun.

Mrs. Smith had hoped to question Ethan. But the judge, Cheryl A. Matthews, said she would not require him to testify because he was expected to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Although he pleaded guilty, Ethan's life sentence without parole is still eligible for appeal.

Now jurors in the trial of his mother will decide whether she is guilty of enabling his violence.

The judge told jurors she would give them their instructions when they returned to the courtroom Monday morning to begin deliberations.